Medi-Dyne Pain Solution and Treatment for Heel, Back, and Shins

How Do Your Hips Get Tight?

The hip muscles form a vital link in the lower body connective chain. These 17 muscles provide balance, stability, and range of motion for all of your daily activities. When one or more of these muscles becomes injured or tight the ripple effect is significant.

While overuse, a sudden fall or other injury can play impact hip flexibility, tight hip muscles very often stem from a lack of activity. Sitting at a desk all day can quite quickly cause a tightening and shortening of the muscles. The result of any of these causes the muscles in your hips to lack proper range of motion and strength. When your hip muscles get stiff and fail to do their job sufficiently, your lower back and hamstrings have to compensate by doing the hip's job of flexing and extending the leg and hip.

In the short run, this compensation can cause modified posture, some discomfort, even pain but this imbalanced relationship has more daunting long-term ramifications. Improper posture and modified muscle movement during any activity including sitting, standing, walking or exercise causes a constant tug-of-war between the muscles which can lead to significant muscle, joint, tendon and ligament injuries.

At The Core Of The Issue

The muscles which are closest to your body's center of gravity must be strong to maintain proper posture and functioning of the body's dynamic interconnective chain.

We've all heard a lot about core strengthening but maintaining flexibility of your core (hip flexors, glutes, piriformis, IT band and hamstrings) is every bit as critical to reducing the risk of injury and maintaining long-term mobility. In fact, reduced flexibility not only impacts your ability to perform everyday tasks but it is one of the leading causes of injuries.

Preventing Pain and Maintaining Flexibility

Rehabilitating an injury may or may not be painful, but there's one thing it is for sure – time consuming. As with all injuries, prevention is your best defense. Prevention options include:

• 1) Focus on Flexibility and Strength Every Day While there's a lot of controversy as to whether or not warming up before exercise makes a difference, there's one thing that everyone agrees on. If you're going to prevent injury, stretching should be done daily. The stretching and strengthening programs that help rehab the injury are the same ones that will help to prevent it.

• 2) Warm up and Cool Down Think of your muscles as taffy. Often a bit brittle to start, the more pulling and stretching that is done, the more pliable it becomes. Starting an athletic activity without stretching is a risk for injury you just don't have to take. Be sure to warm up properly before starting any exercise but be sure to stretch afterwards as well. You'll thank yourself in the morning.

• 3) Enlist Support Your feet are designed to protect you against the shock your body feels when you take a step. Every time the heel of your foot hits the ground, a shock wave travels up through your body, all the way to your head. A healthy body will absorb this shock. But if your feet are not in their correct functioning position, more of this shock is allowed to move through the body to weaken other joints including the hips and spine. Be sure that your feet are healthy, that your arches are properly supported and your shoes are providing maximum shock absorption.

Medically Proven Solutions

CoreStretch®

Originally developed for use by physical therapists for clinical use.

The CoreStretch was developed to provide the deepest, most effective way to stretch your lower back, hamstrings, and posterior chain while restoring muscle flexibility and interaction, thereby, increasing range of motion, reducing pain, preventing further injury, and speeding up recovery. Unlike conventional stretching methods that force the back to curve, the unique design of the CoreStretch decompresses the back, enabling a deeper, more effective stretch of the posterior muscle chain supporting your back, spine, and legs. The CoreStretch provides a stretch that both allows the tissues to relax and elongate developing the major muscle groups of the core.

StretchRite®

The patented StretchRite gives you a safer, more effective way to improve flexibility and get total body relief for sore, tight muscles. Stretch-Rite®'s patented system features a non-elastic strap for stretching and conditioning every major muscle group — making it easy to perform each stretch properly and effectively and features six ergonomically-shaped handgrips that offer a comfortable non-cinching hold and make it simple to adjust tension during the stretch.

Tuli's Gaitors®

Tuli's Gaitors combines light-weight shock absorption with superior arch support in an ultra-thin carbon fiber orthotic that delivers long-lasting relief and comfort. The "most like nature" shock absorption of Tuli's Gaitors is why they're the doctor's #1 choice in off-the-shelf orthotic solutions.

Gaitors ¾ Length - Shock absorption and arch support in an ultra-thin orthotic that fits any shoe.

Gaitors Full Length - Shock absorption and arch support in an ultra-thin orthotic that fits any shoe.

NOTE: Consult your doctor before starting any exercise program. It's important to resume your usual activities gradually. If your body isn't completely healed, returning to your usual activities too quickly may only cause continued pain.